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New technology always involves an interesting dichotomy. When it works and integrates into our lives, it’s spectacular; when it misses the mark, it can be downright creepy.

As organizations start to incorporate new technologies such as robotics, machine learning, and voice recognition into our daily lives, we will come up against what researchers and computer scientists refer to as the Uncanny Valley.

The Uncanny Valley is a hypothesis about why human replicas elicit feelings of eeriness and revulsion. It boils down to the fact that we feel uncomfortable with machines that are close to human. Robots are an example of this, but anyone with an Alexa might experience this phenomenon the first time she reminds us of something we didn’t tell her.

At the moment, retailers are balanced on a knife’s edge. As grateful as consumers are for technology that facilitates their purchases, they are instantly turned off by invasive messages (Why is my grocery store texting me?), off-the-mark marketing (Is anyone getting bizarre messages from Amazon about things you’d never consider purchasing?), and proliferation of customer data (How does this retailer know that about me?).

Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, virtual/augmented reality and the Internet of Things, are being viewed as lower-priority focal points across the industry as retailers work to avoid distractions and focus on meaningful improvement in the customer experience. In fact, according to a Forrester survey of business and tech professionals, 42% of respondents do not have plans for AI investments, and 46% of U.S. online adults do not see a use for virtual reality in their lives. Instead, retailers are focused on getting omnichannel right, refining their digital store, increasing personalization, and advancing their analytics capabilities.

In the report, Forrester recommends that retailers today must identify pain points along each customer journey and avoid being distracted by shiny tech objects — staying customer-obsessed. This discussion mirrors my own experiences at NRF’s Big Show where we saw a real need to measure and showcase the improvements which new solutions are bringing to the business. Needless to say, these are subjects near and dear to our hearts, and at NTT DATA we believe that any digital transformation has to examined from the customer’s perspective.

Our experience with helping companies understand where their customers experience friction in the purchasing process (so they can reduce that friction) exactly matches the recommendations from the Forrester report.

For retailers, that means bringing the customer’s perspective to technology investment decisions. Self-checkout, distributed commerce, and virtual/augmented reality might end up at the bottom of the list when it comes time to allocate resources. Instead, says the Forrester report, ebusiness professionals must help leadership avoid these types of distractions by staying customer-obsessed.¬

About the author

On his first day as an engineer, someone decided that Matt Leach should write requirements. He soon discovered that project success is not just about technology, but a holistic solution that solves the right problem. Since then, he has helped organizations better understand their business and their customers while delivering solutions that delight both. Currently, Mr. Leach is a Vice President in NTT DATA’s Digital, Applications and Information Management Practice where he leads the Business Analysis and Project Management Practices.